Rare Moments of Weakness
by sashsweetie
Summary: Cameron takes a late night break and runs into someone. Unexpected camaraderie develops! Continued due to popular request.
1. Late Night Encounters

_A/N: Not sure if it's a one-shot or not. Thoughts??_

Allison Cameron entered the doctor's lounge with a sigh, pleased to find it as she flipped on the light switch. A week of the ER, arguments with Chase, arguments about arguments (with Chase), and trying to drag herself out of bed to do her daily runs left her exhausted, and she was glad that this was her last shift before a couple of days of intensely needed rest. She'd informed Chase she didn't want to see him until after a good sleep and a bit of time to herself. So now it was just pushing through the next four hours. A muffled sob drew her attention to the corner of the room. "Hello?" she questioned, assuming a lost child or a loved one seeking privacy in their grief. She received no response, but noticed the brown hair sticking up above the couch. She made her way over slowly. "I'm Dr. Cameron. Are you all…" the question dropped off as she recognised the person as Remy Hadley. The brunette made a weak attempt to smile at her from her place curled into the couch.

"Trying not to be noticed" she explained.

Cameron nodded. "You got stuck with the night shift?" she offered, knowing the prickly younger doctor wasn't likely to open up.

"Yeah" Thirteen took the question with appreciation.

"Me too" Cameron took a sip of her coffee. She examined the other doctor silently. "You want privacy? I can leave you be."

Thirteen shook her head. "I'd like the company, actually. Take my mind off of things." She reached for her own mug of coffee and grimaced as she found it cold.

"Want me to grab you one?" Cameron offered.

"Would you mind? I kind of look like hell."

"I'll be right back." Cameron made her way to the coffee machine across the hall and inserted a few coins. Foreman came walking quickly towards her as she waited for the machine to finish.

"Have you seen Remy?" he questioned, his face showing a surprising amount of emotion. Cameron shook her head mutely.

"Sorry" she replied, picking up the second cup. "I'll let her know if I see her."

"Thanks." Foreman replied distractedly, and continued down the hall.

Cameron headed back into the doctor's lounge, closing the door. "Foreman's looking for you." She informed the younger woman as she passed her the Styrofoam cup.

"Brilliant" Thirteen muttered bitterly, sipping the coffee. She noticed Cameron watching her and shrugged, sighing. "He broke up with me."

Cameron was surprised. She thought they'd just gotten into a fight or something. "But…" she was confused. "He spent months chasing after you."

"I guess it's easier to think you can handle things before you actually get into them." Thirteen sighed. She caught the raising of Cameron's eyebrows. "He said he wanted to get out before it was too late. Before he cared too much." She glared at the coffee table. "Before my starting to degrade could damage _him_."

Cameron was outraged on her behalf. "Well, Foreman is an ass." She informed the other woman. "Always has been."

Thirteen nodded. "It's not like I don't understand. I mean, watching my mother die was hell."

Cameron didn't really care. "Foreman knew what he was getting into before he started dating you. I'm sorry, but he really has no excuse."

Thirteen was evidently surprised by the vehemence of her support. "You sound like you've had some experience with this." She commented.

"I married my husband when he was dying of cancer." Cameron informed her honestly.

Thirteen's eyes widened. "Wow."

Cameron smiled and shrugged. "It didn't change the fact that I wanted to marry him. I would have stayed with him until the end either way. Getting married was what we both wanted."

Thirteen hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for it. "How long did he live? After…"

"Six months." Cameron understood why she was asking. She wanted to know if there really was hope for her.

Thirteen nodded silently. They finished their coffee.

"I'm going to go talk to Eric." Thirteen decided.

Cameron smiled. "I should get back to the ER." She stood up. "But if you ever want to grab a drink or something."

Thirteen stood up beside her. "I know where to find you." She smiled in return. "Thanks."

"No problem." Cameron exited the room and headed for the elevator. As the door closed, a loud volley of curses from the doctor's lounge told her that Thirteen had Foreman on the phone. She couldn't help but grin.


	2. Trashing the Enemy

Cameron stared at her face in the mirror. She looked tired, which she was. She was fucking exhausted as a matter of fact. Sighing, she reached into her bag and drew out a make-up kit, taking a minute to apply some lip gloss and mascara. If Chase was going to make the effort to take her out on a date, she figured she should make the effort to look half-decent.

Thirteen cornered her as she exited the locker room. "Want to get those drinks you mentioned?" she questioned.

"Can't. Dinner plans." Cameron apologised. "Another night?"

"Aww, c'mon. We can do late drinks."

Cameron looked at her watch. She was meeting Chase in half an hour. She had the next day off. Dinner with Chase often drove her to drinking. She sighed. "I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"

Thirteen grinned. "Absolutely"

Cameron swirled her wine around her glass, only half paying attention to whatever Chase was saying. She was sure it was about soccer…or one of the surgeries he'd performed today…or their relationship. She just nodded or smiled at appropriate intervals, which seemed to keep Chase happy.

She took a bite of her mashed potatoes, her thoughts on drinks with Thirteen later. She wondered what the other woman wanted to talk about, if anything. With Thirteen, it was entirely possible she just wanted company for drinks.

"…so anyway, what do you think?" Chase asked, evidently proud of what he'd just said.

Cameron looked up and blinked, blindsided. She smiled sweetly. "Sorry, I missed that."

Chase frowned. "Does that sound alright with you?"

Cameron pondered. He was happy, so a positive response was the way she knew she would go, but she had no idea what she was agreeing to. She let her smiled widen. "It sounds perfect." She reached over and caressed his hand.

"I'm looking forward to it. It's a great resort." Chase squeezed her hand. "Three whole days of relaxation"

Cameron panicked. What had she just agreed to?! "What about our shifts?" she questioned.

Wrong thing to say. Chase took his hand away. "You haven't heard a word I've said in the last fifteen minutes, have you? I told you I sorted all that out with Cuddy." his posture was rigid, angry.

"I…" Cameron tried to backtrack but couldn't really come up with anything. She looked down. "Look, I'm sorry. I told you I was too tired for this."

"Too tired for dinner with your boyfriend? Too tired to have a fucking conversation?" Chase hissed.

"Yes." Cameron crossed her arms defensively. "I'm exhausted, to be quite honest."

Chase threw his arms in the air. "And I'm not?"

Cameron sighed. "I didn't say that. Please don't put words in my mouth."

"Fine. Let's just finish and go back to my place." Chase went back to eating.

Cameron winced. This was not going to go down well. "I'm going to sleep at my place on my own tonight."

Chase set down his glass far more harshly than required. "Again?!" he demanded. "That's the third time this week."

"Yeah; Well, I live there." Cameron snapped. Did he have to judge everything she did?!

They finished dinner quickly, and in silence.

"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Chase questioned as Cameron started towards her car. She nodded and left without saying anything. Sitting in her car, she contemplated for a moment before pulling out her phone.

"Hello?" Thirteen's voice echoed across the line.

"Hey, it's me" she answered.

"That was a fast dinner."

"Yeah…Things didn't go all that well." Cameron sighed. "How about those drinks you mentioned?"

"Want to come over? I'm feeling lazy." Thirteen invited.

"Sure." Curling up on a couch with a glass of something was exactly what she needed. She wrote down Thirteen's address and headed out of the restaurant parking lot.

Remy Hadley heard knocking at her front door and turned off the t.v. "Hey!" she stood aside to let Cameron into her apartment.

"Hi" Cameron smiled slightly and slipped out of her shoes.

"Bad night?" Thirteen questioned. She nodded.

"We're arguing a lot right now." Cameron rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"What's your poison?" Thirteen asked. "I have just about everything."

"To be honest, I'd love a glass of wine." Cameron admitted, collapsing onto Thirteen's couch.

"Red or white?" Thirteen headed for the kitchen.

"Red" Cameron decided. Thirteen returned with a bottle of wine, two glasses and a corkscrew.

"We can be girly for one night, right?" Thirteen asked, wrinkling her nose a little as if the thought pained her.

"No-one ever needs to know but us" Cameron agreed. Thirteen pulled out the cork and started pouring.

"So why was Chase being an asshole?" she questioned, sliding a glass towards Cameron.

Cameron sipped gingerly. "I wasn't paying attention to the conversation because I was too tired, which I'd told him, and then he got pissed off." She summarised, then sighed. "I guess its partly justified. I haven't exactly been available lately."

"How so?" Thirteen frowned.

"I just don't have the energy to deal with him all the time, which makes us argue, so then I avoid him, which makes us argue. Basically whatever happens, we argue. I get the feeling if I was much more pliable it would be fine, but I'm not. I'm private and I'm careful and I keep people at a distance." She took another sip of her wine. "I mean, we got in a fight over him getting a drawer, for God's sakes!"

"Well, it's a big step, allowing someone's stuff to have permanent residence in your place." Thirteen commented.

"That's what I said!" Cameron agreed. "And to be honest, the way things are going, _not _one I want to take with Chase!"

"Fair enough" Thirteen nodded.

Cameron examined the other woman. "How about you?" she questioned. "I heard you bitch out Foreman on the phone."

"Yeah. He's acting like a complete baby. Really immature."

"At work?"

Thirteen nodded. "He just ignores me most of the time…or avoids me. It's kind of annoying when we work together and he did the breaking up."

"He just knows he's in the wrong" Cameron assured her.

"I just hate when personal stuff gets brought into the workplace."

"Me too"

They talked for a while longer, taking time to bitch about House and co-workers over their wine before Cameron stood to go. "Sorry" she apologised. "I'd love to stay, but I really just need some sleep."

"No worries" Thirteen brushed off the apology. "We can always do it again."

"I think we'll have to" Cameron grinned. She liked the younger doctor's spunk.

Thirteen chuckled. "We'll have to keep it on the dl if you don't want to be accused of lesbianism or sabotage."

Cameron rolled her eyes in response.


	3. Little Cabin in the Woods

Six relatively argument-free days later, Cameron found herself drowsing in the front seat of Chase's car as they drove to some resort in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't a long trip, he'd said, only a few hours away. She'd nodded and smiled. Three whole days of "relaxation"; she remembered.

She jerked awake as they pulled to a stop, blinking until her vision came into focus and vaguely aware that she'd managed to drool on her shoulder. She wiped the side of her mouth delicately with a finger as she lifted her head. "Wow" she looked out the window at the resort before turning to smile at her boyfriend. "Rob, it's gorgeous!"

He smiled back at her. "You were snoring, by the way" he joked.

She hit his shoulder lightly "Was not!"

The inside was beautiful too. Floors tiled in stone and big wood beams across the ceiling. She hadn't been out of the city in a while – it was nice to be surrounded by nature, even if they were staying in a hotel. She pulled out her phone to check the time while Chase checked in. A new text message – she clicked to open it.

"_Relax", Cameron – 13_

She couldn't help but smile. She'd shared her worries with Thirteen over the reasons behind this random get-away. She hoped they weren't justified. She took a moment to text back.

_Thanks. If things go wrong, it's you I'll be begging for help – just a warning. _

Chase made his way over to where she was standing with their bags, handing her a key. She gave him a smile and slipped it, along with her phone, into her jacket pocket. "Lead the way" she gestured, leaning down to grab her bag.

Not long later they were in the private hot-tub on their balcony, enjoying the view and a glass of wine.

"I reserved dinner for eight." Chase commented. "I hope that's all right."

She nodded, feeling lazy in the warm water.

It had been a great weekend, really, she pondered on the way back in Thirteen's car. Right up until that last evening. Why Rob had chosen then to pop the question was something she'd never understand. Why wouldn't he wait, see if things got better. It could have been a rough patch. Now it was over. She sighed. "Thanks for coming to get me" she turned to face Thirteen.

The other woman smiled at her, a little sadly. "You did warn me after all" she pointed out. "Besides, it's a nice drive."

Cameron smiled. "Still; I appreciate it." She hadn't thought he'd leave her behind when she said no.

Thirteen rolled her eyes. "You can buy me a drink when we get back"

"Deal" Cameron turned back to watching the trees go by out the window.

It was still relatively early when they pulled back into town. "How about dinner with those drinks?" Cameron suggested.

"Definitely" Thirteen agreed.

"You pick" Cameron closed her eyes. She didn't feel like thinking at the moment.

A few minutes later they stopped outside a small Italian place. Thirteen turned off the car and hopped out. Cameron climbed out too, yawning as she followed the brunette into the dimly lit restaurant.

The food was nice. Fresh-baked bread and salad followed by gnocchi in a nicely seasoned tomato sauce and a decent bottle of red wine. She hadn't been able to resist stealing some of the fettuccini alfredo off of Thirteen's plate. It just looked too good to pass up. Thirteen had just laughed and shaken her head, returning the gesture by stabbing a piece of gnocchi.

It was nice, having a friend at the hospital. Someone who she could go out with, joke with, forget about the bad things in life with. Someone she could call when things fell apart again.

"Want to come back to mine?" Thirteen questioned as they exited. "We could watch a movie? Talk?" She seemed nervous about Cameron's lack of sadness.

Cameron thought for a moment. She'd been up all night the night before, thinking he would come back. On the other hand, being alone meant she'd think about things. "Sure" she agreed. "As long as there's more wine involved."

Thirteen grinned. "I can make that happen"

She woke up the next morning on a couch that wasn't her own, blankets tucked around her. She sat up and realised she must have fallen asleep at Thirteen's. She took a few sips of the glass of water beside her and went back to sleep.

It was the smell of coffee that woke her next. She heard humming behind her and sat up. "Hi"

Thirteen turned around and smiled. "Hey there. Coffee?" she held up the freshly made pot.

"Please" Cameron stood, making her way towards the kitchen and taking a seat at Thirteen's counter. Thirteen placed a mug of coffee in front of her.

"Want anything in it?" she questioned. Cameron shook her head and took a sip.

"I'm good. Thanks."

They drank their coffee in silence.


End file.
